Angular evaluation to quantify planar distortions of PDMS stamps in soft lithography

This article describes an angular quantification method of planar distortion for polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) stamps in soft lithography by introducing angular parameter θ that is proportional to patterns’ planar distortion in magnitude. The average planar distortion of individual pattern (absolute distortion, θ1) and pattern-to-pattern distortion (relative distortion, θ2) of PDMS stamps were determined by angular discrepancies (θ). The angular quantification was evaluated among four different PDMS stamps affixation treatments, and the PDMS stamps supported on silane-modified glass showed strong binding and minimal planar distortion. Its absolute angular distortion θ1 was 3.98×10−3 and relative angular distortion θ2 was 1.22×10−3. The angular evaluations demonstrate a versatile method for quantifying and comparing planar distortions among patterns as well as screening elastomer stamps support in soft lithography.